Zap's report included battle data and analysis of the enemy's energy type.

The barrier primarily utilized electromagnetism.

Therefore, they needed to use a high-energy, electrically neutral particle to penetrate the barrier and attack the enemy.

But there was a problem.

All particles are subject to the four fundamental forces. The enemy had a superior understanding of these forces. How could they bypass the enemy's defenses?

The only opportunity was during the enemy's energy recharge phase.

This was the only chance.

Luna and Ayla discussed this strategy.

God's Rods!

These seemingly ordinary metallic drills contained advanced technology.

Ayla observed.

The drills rapidly approached the enemy warship.

As expected, the enemy deployed the barrier, fearing the drills' hidden weaponry.

But the barrier was ineffective.

The Purple Thorns relaxed their guard, believing the barrier's invulnerability meant the drills were low-energy and only needed to be shielded against kinetic energy.

Weak civilization!

Weak resistance!

Lasers vaporized the drills, extinguishing any remaining resistance.

This wasn't arrogance; it was a terrifying technological disparity, like 21st-century soldiers facing Stone Age tribesmen.

Lasers from the warship struck the drills, melting their surfaces.

But then, a smaller drill emerged from the wreckage, resembling an inverted nail, only 20 meters long, accelerating to 41,000 km/s.

The Purple Thorns sensed something was wrong.

They continued firing lasers, but the beams passed straight through the drill without effect.

What was happening?

This was unexpected.

They prepared to use gravitational waves, assuming that any matter would be affected by gravity.

But they were too late.

The object was extremely close—less than 7 million kilometers away—too close for their gravity manipulators to react.

They changed tactics.

If gravity was ineffective, they would use the strong and weak forces.

But the strong force also passed straight through.

A terrifying possibility occurred to them.

Could it be—a fundamental particle?

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The drill was composed of a fundamental particle unaffected by the strong force. The most readily available, detectable, and manipulable particles in the universe were neutrinos.

Neutrinos are only affected by the weak force. To create a macroscopic object from them required using near-string technology to bind them together.

Because their combined mass increased, their speed decreased, preventing them from reaching near light speed.

Therefore, only the weak force could be used.

Within half a minute, the Purple Thorns reacted, activating their weak force emitters. This required less energy than generating gravitational waves; activation took only 23 seconds.

Deployment!

Spherical weak force fields expanded from the warship's surface, enveloping the neutrino constructs within five seconds.

The constructs, previously resembling nails, began to link together. Microscopic black holes formed around the neutrino constructs, disrupting the weak force.

It was the quark-sized devices!

The explosions lasted ten seconds.

The neutrino constructs pierced the weak force fields.

And finally... reached the ship's hull.

Penetrating it instantly, the neutrinos were compressed, rather than releasing their energy.

Neutrinos, being so small, can pass through almost anything without causing damage. Every living being and object is constantly bombarded by trillions upon trillions of neutrinos.

But by manipulating strings, more strings could be added to the neutrinos, much like adding or removing electrons from an atom, causing a change.

This was Ayla's first application of string manipulation.

Ayla's manipulation of strings was crude; she could only induce a limited degree of string fusion in the neutrinos, converting them into other fundamental particles and then combining them to form larger structures.

These structures, being unstable, would undergo rapid fission, fusion, and decay, releasing tremendous energy.

And the result...

The neutrinos within the warship underwent these transformations, causing the Purple Thorn warship to explode from the inside out.

The tens of thousands of Purple Thorns aboard were incredulous.

Given their technological level, they easily understood the underlying principles.

But they had never encountered such a bizarre weapon.

Moreover, when had their enemy mastered string manipulation?

This question plagued them, even as the immense energy consumed them.

Five years—the time it took the enemy fleet to reach the Alpha Centauri binary system.

"Barbarians" had defeated a "civilization."

...

Over two months later, Luna received a message from Ayla.

"Plan successful!"

But she wasn't relieved; the war wasn't over, perhaps it had only just begun.

The barrier in the Long Serpent Sector remained. It was vast; it was unlikely that only one 10,000-meter U-shaped ship was present.

But with the success of the plan, she could finally leave her underground base.

She moved to a side wall and opened a door, revealing a bridge.

Her hibernation chamber wasn't a simple compartment but a spacecraft hidden deep underground.

The light-based alloy's melting point was 87,000°C; even the interior of Proxima Centauri c, a large rocky planet, only reached 13,000°C. The spacecraft could easily survive here.

Luna sat in the pilot's seat and started the engines.

It would take her five months to ascend via the elevator shaft.

Then, she would leave the Proxima Centauri system.

Because the enemy was on its way.

...

The Multi-eyed fleet was en route to the Long Serpent Sector.

Their speed was far lower than the enemy's; after eight years, they had only traveled 0.19 light-years. Reaching the Long Serpent Sector would take much longer.

But.

As they traveled, a series of black dots appeared in front of them.

These dots, observed through telescopes, steadily grew larger.

The Multi-eyed felt a chill run down their spines.

The dots were warships.

Each identical to the ones they'd encountered before. One was enough to destroy them, to destroy the Kate fleet. Now, there were hundreds... no, a thousand.

They had no chance.

Before they could succumb to fear and despair.

Lasers struck them.

Ships disintegrated.

Tens of thousands of Multi-eyed were instantly frozen in the vacuum of space.

The colossal fleet passed them at a distance of 9 million kilometers, without slowing.

The Multi-eyed fleet was shattered, the warships destroyed, leaving only scattered fighters and smaller vessels.

Kula, aboard a fighter, watched the fleet disappear, then looked around.

Oppression!

A crushing weight settled over him.

They couldn't win!

Should they flee?

He was torn.

Then, a detached message arrived.

"Proceed to the Long Serpent Sector!"

Perhaps... there was a chance.

He began gathering the survivors, setting course for the Long Serpent Sector.